If Starswirl the Bearded mentored Clover the Clever sometime before the events of "Hearth's Warming Eve" and mentored the Royal Pony Sisters sometime after, where was he during the coming together of the tribes and the founding of Equestria?

Rainbow Dash announces that she's going on a date, but refuses to say who with. Rarity decides to secretly follow her, but what Rarity uncovers is so bizarre, she will never be able to look at Rainbow Dash, or herself, the same way again.

Thrust into the world of her favorite book-series, Rainbow Dash finds herself dragged along for the ride of Daring Do's latest adventure. However, for Rainbow Dash, breaking the fourth wall may very well prove to be a learning experience.

As far as Fashionably Late is concerned, the Azdariz Diamond is just another jewel her husband Filthy Rich has bought for her. So when she loses it, she confides in Rarity that she'll be putting an announcement in the paper: whoever finds the diamond can keep it. To Rarity, however, the Azdariz is the finest gemstone ever produced in Equestria, and she's determined to keep it from falling into less appreciative hoofs. Donning the Mare-Do-Well suit, Rarity slips into Ponyville's midnight shadows to track the diamond down before the announcement gets published.

Then Rainbow Dash gets involved. Then things get complicated.

This story was awarded 6th place in the April 2015 Writeoff Association contest, "Great Expectations," and the cover art was commissioned from marking.

Just saying the name forced Rarity to stifle another shiver. For while she'd worked with larger gems, none, she was convinced, could hold the proverbial candle to the Azdariz. That she'd been allowed to touch the diamond during Ms. Late's previous fitting session, had been allowed to caress it with her magic and soak herself in the dazzling prismatic reflections and refractions from its surface—

Suffice it to say that the sensations had featured quite prominently in her dreams during the course of the last week.

Are you absolutely sure this shouldn't be listed as "Mature - Jewelry" on FIMfiction, BB?

Unexpected, but awesome, ending. For all the adventurous silliness, the struggle between Rarity's greed and generosity, her love of beauty and desire to have that beauty, was the real action scene of this story.

This is a story I've been wanting to write for over a year now, but it was only the impetus of The Writeoff that actually got me putting fingertips to keyboard. Now I can move on to not writing the story I've been wanting to write for a mere 10 months!

I suppose that even in a world where EarthPonies (Raging Mouse uses the adjective "Earthen" and lets ponies be understood) can grow rocks, gems, jewels, et cetera in the ground, extraordinary specimens are still extraordinary.

Jewel-bearings are a great invention of the 18th century. Without lubrication such as oil, the motion (the technical collective term for all of the moving parts) would grind to an halt. Lubrication would allow the parts to move, but oil plus dust equals gunk, which would cause the motion to grind to an halt. Corundum (aluminum oxide, in the form of rubies sapphires, and other forms of aluminum oxide) has an extremely low coefficient of friction. If one grinds corundum into the form of sockets for bearing and the pegs forthe bearings themselves, one can create lubricationless bearings which work.

According to Lauren Faust, ponies poop into the ground, thus fertilizing the flowers. In the song "A Glass of Water", we see the toilet of Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings, which contradicts the statement of Lauren Faust. This story implies that ponies not just have toilets, but that Ponyville has sewers.

Physics in high school more than three decades ago, I always referred to it as the "the koi fish of friction" in my notes and then would draw a little smiling fish next to it. I'm thinking this might have something to do with my eventually becoming a Humanities major...

And there's the outhouse scene in "The Last Roundup," too. I think it was Present Perfect who wrote a minific Ponyizing the way that horses in our world poop 15 or 20 times a day, so, yeah, any and all varieties of bathroom facilities, I would think, would be essential to maintaining Equestrian society.

Hm. I think that, to me, this works better as a single story than as five chapters; the sources of tension that drive the chapter breaks are very different than the tension that drives the full plot arc, so the story would feel a little more unified if it all wound up for one big pitch at the end. Regardless, it was a fun read in the Writeoff and I like the additions!

Good stuff, Mike. Was a good end to a funny story. I was expecting more shenanigans, but the Rarity/Dashie interactions filled in that hole, and the down-to-earth ending rounded out a realistic finish that satisfied in a different way.

"Not the sorta thing I'd, y'know, leave my friends and family and business and life behind to go chasing after, sure, but yeah, it's pretty enough."

She didn't, though. Up until this point, Rainbow's the only one who's gotten carried away, turning an ordinary lost-item search into a treasure expedition. The only hint that Rarity might be blowing things out of proportion comes later, and IMO feels a little shoehorned in.

Rarity I lost the diamond . Oh ? Where did you think you lost it? Twilights castle. I'm sure Twilight will find it. Why yes Spike found it! Spike don't tell me you ate that diamond. . . OK I wont. Shony doesn't want it back anyway. . . How do you Mrs. Lates nickname ? I did live in Canterlot. . .remember? So you ate it? No I didn't tell you ,It's right here. . .

I'm still chuckling over the way I had "Carousal Boutique" at the beginning of the story till Present Perfect pointed it out to me a few days ago. It makes me want to write an Alternate Universe story where Rarity has Pinkie's job, and the Carousal Boutique is the giant funhouse she runs in town.

5952295 I imagine that Rarity would be pretty easy to smell, what with all the perfume and other cosmetics she would apply to herself, probably anyone who spent enough time with her would be able to recognize the scent of what she puts on herself every day, at the very least.